Machine for grinding and superfinishing barrel-shaped rollers and the like



June 18, 1957 2,795,900

H. MODLER MACHINE FOR GRINDING AND SUPERFINISHING BARREL-SHAPED ROLLERSAND THE LIKE Filed July 28, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 firroR/vE ms June 1957H. MODLER 2,795,900

' MACHINE FOR GRINDING AND SUPERFINISHING BARREL-SHAPED ROLLERS AND THELIKE Filed July 28, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 m H I i i 28 H 'r-rl K ,7

i} l} I! l} 50 5 27 1' ll II M JP-J1 N L\ S H 30 25 J5 3 w j Z ,v as 4Inventor." Hfl/vs Noun? ,9rro mws'rs June 18, 1957 H. MODLER ,79 ,900

. MACHINE FOR GRINDING AND SUPERFINISHING BARREL-SHAPED ROLLERS AND THELIKE Filed July 28, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 MACHINE FOR GRINDINGSUPERFINISH- ING BARREL-SHAPEDROLLERS AND *THE" LIKE Hans Modler,Aschafienburg, Germany Application-July 28,1954, Serial No. 446,259

8 Glaims. 4 (Cl. 51-108) This invention has reference-to a'machine' forthe centreless grinding and honing; orsuperfinishing, ,of "the crownedsurfaces of'barrel-shaped antifriction rollers and similar bodies, anditparticularly-relates to a machine for this --purpose, having aconcavely shaped vrevoluble grinding wheel, or areciprocating.superfinishingtool respectively, and acooperatingregula-ting r whee1,- between which the workpieces arerotated.and,thereby,- operated upon and fed through the machine inarevoluble carrier substantia-lly, resembling the shape of Ithe workingthroat rof the machine at its work-presenting section.

In the known. grinding devicesof this type the support of the.workpieces which, for the sake of simplicity, will :hereinafter bereferred to as-rollers, on-their carriers has .not been able to meetthe-requirements of practice. 'It

--.was -unstable1and the rollers, being-supported on their .greatcirclesonly,'cou1d deviate invarious directions and were even able to edgebetween the grinding andtregulat- .,.in \vhee1s. Forthese. and other.reasons it has been ex- ,ceedingly.difficult up to the present toobtainthat-rac- .cur.acy in finishing. crowned or barrel-shaped rollersurfaces which,.however, is of paramountimportance in the .constructionof. antifriction bearings.

'-It is, therefore,.the principle object of the.invention-to removethese. discrepancies andtoprovide a device .which will be simple inconstruction and lefiectiveinruse. andin whichrollers of crowned orbarrel-shapecan beground and finished tothe highest-degree of accuracy.

Another object is the provision of a device in which means are providedfor guiding the rollers .through the .machine and for thereby holdingthem revolublybut bodily immovable on their carrier to be acted upon :bythe operating tools of the machine.

Afurther object oftheinventionrests intheprovisiou of means forcontinuously feeding the rollers into-the machine and for automaticallyrejecting .them from the United States ?atent ('3 however, is not shownin the drawings with the exception of some partswhich will be-referredto in connection with vFig. 3. The revolublegrinding'wheel 1 is providedover --its circumference--with a concave grinding surface, while 2,795,900 Patenixed. June 18, 1957 ice operating tools at the sametimeandina mannerwhich prevents. any side movement, tipping or thelike,"of the rollers while they'are beingacted upon-:during their passage;through the machine.

' The invention -is illustrated in'ithe accompanying drawingsrby' way ofexample.

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal :vertical-section through the grinding device.on the line II-ofF ig. 2 as seen in the direction 'of' the arrow.

Fig. 2 isaplanview ofFig. has-seenin thedirection -of. the-arrow II ofthat figure.

Fig. 3: is a crosssection-similarto Fig. l of the "honing orsuperfinishing device, and

.Fig.-4-a plan view similar. to Fig. 2 of the device shown in Fig; .3.

' In these figures;particularly in Figs-l and '2. the grinding wheel ofa-plaimgrinding machine suitable for circular work isdenominatedZ'by-thenumeral 1 and the regulating wheel'byz. 'The'latter-is journaledwith itsshaft 3 between the centre points ofthegrinding machine which,

the. regulating wheel 2 is 'Z of spherical shape as "shown in Fig. 2.Both wheels-'rotatein mutually opposite direction as indicated bytthearrows;

'Arrangedton =asconical head between the two wheels -1i and .2 is .acircular :cage 4 around "the circumference .of which .a numberof'dndividual chambers 5 is provided -.which:.open:outwardlymndin whichthe rollers aresup- :ported with their" parallel 'en'd 'walls inintimate contact with the side walls of the chambers 5. 'These sidewalls prevent axial and tipping movement of therollers; which are furtherstabilizedcin their position on :the carrier 4 :by -the bottom .ofeach-of the chambers being-recessed in the middle as at '5', .so thatthe rollers are supported on two= points and,-inthis wayjfurther resistanytendency of: tipping or edging.

-Cage 4 together withzits conical head is keyed or otherwise'fixe'd totheupper end of-a shaft'7 which is driven by a wormsgear 8 atits-lowerendand by which it is rotatedtogether with'the rollers 6encagedtherein at a slow speedain comparison-with the 'rotary speed ofthe wheels carrier after treatment.

.cage is provided around its circumference with individual"r-charnberswppen to the outside; the said carrier ibeing rotated at acomparatively slow speed in the feeding direction of the rollers, whichare thereby presented to both the grinding wheel, or the honing toolrespectively, and the regulating wheel.

By means of the individual chambers just referred to and which aresuited to the crowned shape of the rollers and adapted laterally toengage between parallel end Walls of the same, several rollers can bepresented to the The common turning axis of the shaft '7 and'of the cage.4 is positioned was to intersect aplane'which passes through theturning axes 'of'the grinding wheel and of the regulating wheelat' anacute angle ,8, whereby it is possibletoarrangethezshaft 3 'of'theregulating-wheel so as to-approach" the cage 4 very closely, as'will beseen from Fig. 1. The 'spherical surfaceof the'regulating wheel 2 herebyidips into :the excavation 13 "of the cage 4 and its supporting head.The worm gear 8 is preferabl'yenclosed in a ."gear box '8 which isfitted to the machine "bed 7'in which'alsothe shaft'7 of the cage 4 isarranged to rotate.

The substantially barrel=shaped rollers 6 are fed into the chambers "5'of :the vcage 4 through a channel or 'race- 'way 9, whereby theintroductionof the rollers can be facilitated'by the outer portions ofthe separating walls of-the chambers S'being slightly rounded. After therollers have been operated :upon-during the slow rotation'of the cage4tinzth'e working 'thro'at 6' between the" grinding wheel 1 and theregulating wheel 2 they are discharged by coming into contact with aninverted cone 12 on shaft 3 adjacent the regulating wheel 2 and rotatedtherewith, whereby the rollers are lifted and prized out. It will beseen from Fig. 2 that a circle passed around the rollers 6 in the cage 4has its centre at C with the radius R. The concave curvature of theoperating surface of the grinding wheel is centered at C and its radiusR is of the same length as the radius R so that the rollers areautomatically ground true to the curvature of the grinding wheel withoutthe risk of their deviating to either side because of their beingconfined in position by the fixed walls of the chambers 5. a r

After the rollers have been ground in the manner described they arehoned, or superfinished, in the same or similar manner on the honingdevice illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. As in the former case a regulatingwheel 15 and a discharge cone 16 is provided on the shaft 14 of theregulating wheel, which shaft may be arranged between the centre pointsof a plain grinding machine as in the device shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Thecage 17 for the rollers to be honed resembles the aforedescribed cage 4and is also provided with a plurality of individual chambers 18 withinwhich the rollers 6 are confined so as to protrude slightly beyond theperiphery of the cage 17. The latter is keyed to the shaft 20 adapted tobe rotated by the worm gear 23 in a bearing block 22 of the machine bed21.

Turnable upon the bearing block 22 and an intermediate pin bearing 25 isa rocking lever 26 carrying at its free end a member 27 adapted toreciprocate a slide 28 with the honing stone 30 fastened to it.Vibration is imparted to this system by an oscillator or the like 31over a ball' head socket 32, which movement is then transformed into acircular reciprocating movement by the said lever 26 and member 27 andtransmitted thereby over the slide 28 to the honing tool 30. This tool,therefore, also reciprocates in a circular path true to the surface ofthe rollers 6 which are thus superfinished in the radius R as has beendescribed with reference to Figs. 1 and 2.

Rotation is imparted by the regulating disc 15 and the pressure Wheel 33to the rollers 6. The pressure wheel may be coated by a sheet ofvulcanite 34 or the like Admission of the rollers into the chambers 18is effected over a raceway 35, as in Figs. 1 and 2, and the discharge bythe discharge cone 16 on shaft 14.

What I claim is:

1. In a machine for the centerless shaping of the curved outer surfacesof crowned rollers, such as barrel-shaped antifriction rollers and thelike, by means of a surfacing tool and having a revoluble circular cagemember serving as a work rest, a plurality of roller-receiving chambersspaced around the circumference of said circular cage member open to theoutside and with mutually parallel side walls, and a regulating wheel incontact with the rollers while they are being operated upon by thesurfacing tool, a rotary shaft for the said circular cage memberdisposed at an angle to the said surfacing wheel, a rotary shaft for thesaid regulating wheel at substantially right angles to the shaft of thecage member, and an axially disposed excavation in said cage memberaffording space for the rotation therein of the lower part 7 of theregulating wheel, said circular cage member being arranged to revolvebelow the shaft of the regulating wheel so as to allow for the freerotation of saidcage member underneath the driving shaft oftheregulating wheel.

- 2. A machine for operating on the surfaces of crowned roller as setforth in claim 1, in which the axis of rotation of the cage member andthe axis of rotation of the regulating wheel intersect each other. a

3. A machine for operating on the surfaces of crowned rollers as setforth in claim 1, comprising means for dis charging the rollers fromtheir chambers, said means consisting of a discharge cone on the shaftof said regulating wheel adjacent the said wheel and revoluble therewithand by means of which the rollers on coming into contact therewith arelifted and prized out of their chambers.

4. In a machine for the centerless shaping of the curved outer surfacesof crowned rollers, such as barrel-shaped antifriction rollers, by meansof a surfacing tool and having a revoluble circular cage member servingas a work rest, a plurality of roller-receiving chambers spaced aroundthe circumference of said circular cage member, parallel side walls tothe said chambers, and means for maintaining the rollers in contact withsaid surfacing tool during operation, a regulating wheel ofsubstantially spherical formation, a shaft for driving said regulatingwheel in contact with the rollers to be ground, a surfacing tool havinga concave working edge of arc-shaped formation, a circular cage memberrevoluble in cooperation with said concave surfacing edge at rightangles to the shaft of said regulating wheel, the roller-receivingchambers being so spaced around the circumference of said cage member asalways to move a plurality of rollers along said surfacing edge therebyto enable a continuous operation on the said rollers, and a two-pointsupport in each of the said chambers for centering the rollers inconjunction with the parallel side walls of the chambers in relation tothe surfacing tool, said circular cage member having its shaft disposedat an angle to the surfacing tool and ending below the shaft of theregulating wheel to allow for the free rotation'of the cage memberunderneath the said shaft.

5. Ina machine for operating on the surfaces of crowned rollers as setforth in claim 4, in which the said concaveedged surfacingtool is asubstantially plane superfinishing stone, means for imparting to thesaid stone at reciprocating arcuate motion, comprising, a memberproducing a linear motion and a pivoted lever transmitting said 5 linearmotion into a circular motion along the surfaces of the consecutiverollers as they are moved along the said concave working edge of thesurfacing tool in cooperation therewith.

6. In a machine for operating on the surfaces of crowned rollers, suchas barrel-shaped antifriction rollers and the like, by means of areciprocating superfinishing member,

a substantially plane surfacing tool, a concave working edge ofarc-shaped formation on the said tool, a work rest comprising a circularhead, individual chambers around the, circumferenceof said head fortheaccommodation of said barrel-shaped rollers while they are beingoperated upon, a regulating wheel of substantially spherical formationcontacting with said rollers at one side thereof, parallel side walls tothe said individual chambers, a substantially vertical shaft forrotating said circular head, a pressure roller contacting with saidbarrelshaped rollers at approximately the other side thereof, a slidecarrying said reciprocating superfinishing member,

' a device for producing linear reciprocating movement, a

pivoted lever in connection with said slide and pivotally arranged onthe vertical shaft of said circular head for transforming the linearreciprocating movement into a circular reciprocating movement of theslide carrying said I superfinishing member.

References Cited in the file of this patent

